Citizenship by investment
Passports you can buy. Every programme with a legal basis.
16 jurisdictions currently grant citizenship directly for a qualifying investment or contribution. Marketing lists run much longer than this one because they count closed programmes, bills that never passed, and golden visas dressed up as passports. Residence by investment is a different product with its own page.
Active programmes (16)
| Country | Programme | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| Antigua and Barbuda | Citizenship by Investment ProgrammeGovernment-administered direct citizenship programme with contribution, real-estate and other approved investment options. | 2026-07-17 |
| Cambodia | Naturalization by investment or donationThe 2018 Law on Nationality (arts. 21-22, as amended in 2025) grants discretionary naturalization by Royal Decree to investors and donors. Sub-Decree No. 225 of 1 December 2025 sets the amounts: at least KHR 4 billion (about USD 1 million) of personal capital actually deployed in a qualifying investment project plus twelve months of legal residence, or a KHR 12 billion (about USD 3 million) donation to the national budget plus six months of legal residence. There is no marketing agency, application window, or published quota. | 2026-07-30 |
| Dominica | Dominica Citizenship by Investment ProgrammeGovernment-administered direct citizenship programme offering a public-fund contribution and approved real-estate route. | 2026-07-17 |
| Egypt | Egyptian citizenship through investment programmesThe Prime Minister's citizenship unit administers direct routes through a non-refundable contribution, property, an investment project or a central-bank deposit. No multi-year residence period is required before the investment programme grant. | 2026-07-22 |
| Grenada | Citizenship by Investment ProgrammeGovernment-administered direct citizenship programme with National Transformation Fund and approved-project routes. | 2026-07-17 |
| Jordan | Investor citizenship criteriaJordan's Cabinet-approved criteria, administered by the Ministry of Investment / Invest Jordan, provide citizenship routes through qualifying securities, productive projects, business expansion or sustained job creation. Several project routes require a multi-year compliance period, often with a temporary three-year passport before a recommendation for full citizenship. Dual nationality is routinely permitted on this economic pathway. | 2026-07-30 |
| Macedonia | Naturalization for special economic interestDiscretionary naturalization under article 11 of the Law on Citizenship where admission serves a special economic (or scientific, cultural, sporting) national interest. The implementing decree, as amended in Official Gazette 255/2019, recognises an economic interest at EUR 400,000 invested directly in new capacities employing at least ten people on indefinite contracts for a year, or EUR 200,000 held at least two years in a qualifying private investment fund vetted by the Fund for Innovation and Technological Development. Every grant requires a Government opinion; approvals are case-by-case and low-volume. | 2026-07-30 |
| Mauritius | Investor naturalization after residenceThe Minister may accept two continuous years of residence from an applicant who has invested at least US$500,000 in Mauritius, instead of the ordinary residence pattern. | 2026-07-21 |
| Nauru | Economic and Climate Resilience Citizenship ProgramA statutory contribution programme administered by the Nauru Program Office under the Nauru Economic and Climate Resilience Citizenship Act 2024, under which a foreign adult may acquire economic and climate resilience citizenship after a prescribed contribution and due diligence, without a residence requirement. | 2026-07-22 |
| Saint Lucia | Citizenship by Investment ProgrammeDirect citizenship by registration following a qualifying investment under the Citizenship by Investment Act. Act No. 22 of 2025 inserts s.30A requiring applicants and dependants to comply with prescribed residency and genuine-link requirements from 1 January 2026; those requirements have not yet been published as regulations, so no fixed day-count is recorded. | 2026-07-30 |
| Samoa | Citizenship by investment (Citizenship Investment Act 2015)The Citizenship Investment Act 2015 grants citizenship to approved investors: a minimum qualifying investment of WST 4 million within three years of grant and a minimum net worth of WST 2.5 million (statutory defaults, ss. 5-6), administered by the Citizenship Investment Committee under the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Labour. The route is in force but essentially dormant in volume - MCIL reported a single application received in June 2025 - and Cabinet-approved amendments to the framework are in progress. | 2026-07-30 |
| São Tomé and Príncipe | Citizenship by Investment ProgrammeA direct contribution route created under Decreto-Lei n.º 07/2025 as a special naturalization mechanism under Lei n.º 07/2022 for investment or donation to the National Transformation Fund, administered through the Citizenship by Investment and Donation Unit. | 2026-07-22 |
| St. Kitts and Nevis | Citizenship ProgrammeGovernment-administered direct citizenship programme requiring a prescribed investment or contribution, including the Sustainable Island State Contribution (SISC), and due diligence. | 2026-07-22 |
| Türkiye | Exceptional citizenship through qualifying investmentForeign investors meeting a prescribed property, capital, deposit, securities, pension-fund or job-creation condition may acquire citizenship by presidential decision. | 2026-07-17 |
| United Arab Emirates | Investor nomination for Emirati nationalityThe 2021 exceptional categories allow a property-owning investor to be nominated for nationality by designated UAE authorities. | 2026-07-21 |
| Vanuatu | Investor and contribution citizenship programmesThe Citizenship Commission lists investor citizenship, the Development Support Program, the Vanuatu Contribution Program and a real-estate option under the Citizenship Act framework. | 2026-07-17 |
Eligibility can hinge on the passport you already hold: several programmes exclude specific nationalities. The country profile carries those conditions where recorded.
Closed programmes (7)
Programmes that ran and ended, kept visible because closure is the story: CBI is volatile, and a passport pitch built on a closed programme is the most common scam in this market.
| Country | What happened | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| Belize | Former Economic Citizenship Investment Programme (closed)Belize previously operated the Belize Economic Citizenship Investment Programme (BECIP). It was ended in 2001 under constitutional and nationality amendments. The Economic Citizenship (Abolition of Rights) Act 2023 abolishes further nationality claims based on descent or marriage traced to a person who obtained nationality by economic citizenship. There is no current open CBI product. | 2026-07-22 |
| Bulgaria | Former investor-citizenship provisionsBulgaria repealed the special investment-based citizenship provisions in 2022. Investment or property ownership should not be presented as a current direct route to Bulgarian citizenship; any residence obtained on another legal basis follows the applicable ordinary nationality rules. | 2026-07-17 |
| Comoros | Former economic citizenship / passport programme (closed)medium confidenceComoros previously operated an economic-citizenship programme under which foreigners obtained nationality and passports for payment. The programme was suspended; new grants are not treated as available. Existing grants remain a historical fact and should not be presented as a live CBI product. | 2026-07-22 |
| Cyprus | Former Cyprus Investment Programme (closed)The Cyprus Investment Programme granted citizenship linked to qualifying investment. Official records show it stopped accepting new applications from 1 November 2020. It must not be recommended as a live CBI path. | 2026-07-22 |
| Malta | Former investor-citizenship programmeMalta discontinued the Granting of Citizenship for Exceptional Services programme following the Court of Justice of the European Union judgment, and Act XXI of 2025 then deleted the "individual investor programme" definition from the Act entirely. The substituted article 10(9) grants merit naturalisation for exceptional service or contribution, including through job creation, naming scientists, athletes, artists, entrepreneurs, philanthropists and technologists among the qualifying categories. It sets no financial threshold and must not be represented as a citizenship-by-investment product. | 2026-07-28 |
| Moldova | Former investor-citizenship provisionsMoldova ran a citizenship-by-investment programme introduced by Law 283/2016 and Government Decision 786/2017 (EUR 100,000 non-refundable contribution to the sustainable development fund, or EUR 250,000 invested in a strategic area and held five years). After a 2019-2020 moratorium, Law 111/2020 abrogated the investment provisions of the citizenship law effective 1 September 2020, with pending files wound down by the Government. Investment must not be presented as a current route to Moldovan citizenship. | 2026-07-30 |
| Montenegro | Former Economic Citizenship Programme (closed)Montenegro operated an Economic Citizenship Programme allowing foreign investors to acquire citizenship by admission for investment of special state importance. The programme stopped accepting new applications after 31 December 2022. It must not be recommended as a live CBI path. | 2026-07-22 |
Statutory leads pending verification (4)
Law on the books, but current operation unverified against official sources. Not recommendations.
| Country | Status | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| Argentina | Citizenship following a relevant investmentThe current law permits a foreign national to request citizenship, regardless of residence duration, after making an investment that qualifies as relevant under criteria established by the Ministry of Economy. | 2026-07-21 |
| Bangladesh | Citizenship following a qualifying investmentunverifiedGovernment investment policy reportedly permits citizenship for a qualifying investment (commonly cited around USD 500,000, or a larger non-repatriable transfer). The scheme is administratively defined rather than statutory. | 2026-07-23 |
| Pakistan | Commonwealth-citizen citizenship by investment registrationunverifieds. 20 empowers the Federal Government to register a Commonwealth citizen or British protected person “upon such terms and conditions as it may by general or special order specify.” No remittance amount appears in the Act; commonly cited PKR 5,000,000 figures would live in subordinate orders/rules not located on pakistancode.gov.pk. | 2026-07-30 |
| Papua New Guinea | Investor naturalization categorymedium confidencePNG ICA lists an investor naturalization request form as a discretionary ministerial track. It is not a published fixed-price citizenship-by-investment programme and still depends on statutory naturalization conditions and Cabinet or ministerial approval. | 2026-07-22 |
Every row links to the country profile with its full conditions and primary sources. Confidence below high is flagged inline. Informational only, not legal advice.